Comments from CrustyB

Khnemu, I was by there recently and it’s still standing. The gargoyles are gone but otherwise it’s intact. I was at an alderman’s meeting and the developers said they considered saving the beautiful building but there was a fire here long ago. It damaged the framework so it’s unfit for building upon. As far as the facade, the language they used was that they hoped to save it but, with century-old construction, who knows.

Today I went to a showing of American Grafitti and a vintage car show. I understand this theater has been rehabbed but it was still crappy compared to other refurbished movie houses like The Music Box and The Vic. “30 classic cars” turned out the be four, no one took my ticket when I went in, “American Grafitti” started 15 minutes late and there was a loud buzz on the speakers. Walked out after 10 minutes. Let it turn into a church.

I have about 50 movie programs from the Elmo theater my grandparents collected from about 1936 through 1938. I’ve uploaded a sample of one to the photo section. Note the “free stainless steel kitchenware” promotion that was common at the time.

This is where I saw my first live-action movie when I was 5 years old, “2001: A Space Odyssey.” It was a re-release. My dad yelled at the staff when they started cleaning the popcorn machine during the movie, which made a racket. Then at the end, before Bowman finished his trip through deep space, the film broke and they couldn’t fix it! Never saw the end of this movie until 10 years later.